What is a good source online to buy bandsaw blades? I need a 117", we use this saw to cut thicker (1/4 - 3/8) plate for brackets and such - what tpi would I want for this material? It is a vertical saw. Any recommendations? thanks-
Enco bi metal you want at least 3 teeth in contact with the metal so that should help pick the blade enco has good blades cheap good luck
Does your band saw have a blade cutter/welder on it. If so, you might want to consider buying the blades in roll lengths and fashion your own...even cheaper than ready made. Also facilitates repairing an otherwise good blade that suffers an "uh Oh" Ray
Try Morse out of Canton, Ohio www.mkmorse.com A bi-metal blade with a variable pitch(4/6 or 6/10) cuts like Hell. Don't jam the work into the blade when starting. The thicker the material, the more it likes it. Don't know if 117" is a standard size, but they can make any thing you would need. Keep the blade tight and run as slow as youcan.
Lenox is also a good quality blade stock. I use 1/2" 14 tpi for cutting most everything. If I'm doing a lot of aluminum, I just switch to a wood blade. (FYI, if you need to make your own blades, they can be TIG welded and annealed with a torch.)
Even McMaster has them in a variety of lengths & types & pitches. And they have a tech section to help you choose what you want. Pat
You really have to go through a lot of blades in order for the price to equal the grief and aggravation of welding your own blades. I have done it both ways and for me it is easier to just buy them.
The welding supply place I get my mig gas from makes up custom blades. Check around and there might be someplace local to you too. Blue
Dan , the best choice for all round metal cutting is a Bi-metal blade and 14 tpi ( teeth per inch ) with a good cutting oil cheers Steve in Oz
This outfit http://www.sawblade.com/index.cfm makes blades to order at about half the price most places charge these days. Saw blades are a big profit item for all the mailorder outfits like MSC, Travers, Enco, etc. I'd go with the 601 series blade stock, and assuming you'd be getting a blade about 1/2 wide for use in a vertical saw, I'd go with the 10/14 variable pitch. I just found this company a while back and the few blades I've bought from them have held up just as good as the big name ones from Starrett, Morse, Lenox, and all the other usual suspects. This is a M42 bimetal blade and it'll outlast a carbon steel blade in cutting steel by at least 5 to 1. FWIW, even if your vertical saw has a built in blade welder, it probably won't weld a bimetal blade. They don't usually have the power to handle bimetal and are designed for welding carbon steel blades. Besides, you really can't save any money buying coil stock unless you find something on Ebay that'll work. I've got a $5000 blade welder that'll weld bimetal blades up to 2" wide, and if I buy blade stock in coils I'd only save about a dollar a blade over the cost of buying pre-welded blades. Takes about 10 minutes to measure, cut, weld, and grind a blade, so that'd make a pay rate of 6 bucks an hour. If a person is running a saw shop and buying blade stock by the thousands of feet at a time, then they can get prices that allow them to make good money on cutting and welding blades, but just buying one coil is going backward wide open. I got my welder cheap at an auction and only use it to repair a broken blade or to cut out and weld in a new section in a blade where a few teeth get jerked out of an otherwise good blade.
MSC will also make custom length blades. You want at least 3 teeth cutting at the same time, so figure the TPI froom that .
Here is a link that you might find helpful. http://www.ferscosaws.com/bandtech.php There is a lot of information on how to select the proper blade you need for what you are doing. If you call them they will also help you and tell you where you can buy the blades. They do not sell blades to the general public. They sell blade to many of the distributors mentioned in this thread. I have used their bi metallic blades for many years and find them to give excellent life. I use then in both horizontal and vertical band saws.
I like Lennox blades and they will outlast Starrett blades and any other I've tried. I've had MSC make some up for my saw and they effed up 2 orders of them on me. Even though I clearly specified XXX" on the order. I now buy a roll of a couple of types and go weld them at a friend's machine shop myself, my saw doesn't have a welder. Bob
Most manufacturers make a variety of blades, so you need to be sure an apples to apples comparison is made when comparing. Although it depends on how you use ta blade and how much you use it, premium bi-matal blades are usually well worth the additional cost. While more expensive to buy, for cutting metal their longer life and superior toughness makes them cheaper in the long run than a lower grade of blade. Premium bi-metal blades are also more forgiving about what you cut with them. Blades dull and wear out, but failures are often caused by improper speed or feed pressure, inappropriate tooth count, worn or improper blade guides, kinking, trying to cut something too hard, etc. Surprisingly, just like too high a speed or feed pressure can shorten a blade's life, a speed or pressure can also do the same.
i found a place called [order bandsaw blades online]. they were cheap , shipped quickly and will make any width,thickness and length you need.
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